My life has changed drastically since buying a pressure cooker. I’m constantly amazed by how quickly it cooks ingredients with traditionally long cooking times. This recipe for Instant Pot Chili is made with dry kidney beans, but only takes 15 minutes of actual cooking time! It’s packed with warm and velvety flavors from a mixture of awesome spices, including cocoa powder (trust me, it works). Since the bulk is made from dry beans, it’s super inexpensive to make and much healthier than a majority meat chili.

I plan on making this weekly to get me through the winter. It’s like eating a big bowl of cozy- it’s so hearty and satisfying and warms you to the core. Mmm, mmm.

I got an Instant Pot for Christmas, and I’ll admit: it took me a while before I felt confident using it. There is a bit of a learning curve associated with it, as with any new cooking technique or kitchen gadget. But after only a few uses, I can officially say that I’M OBSESSED. It’s amazing for cooking tough cuts of meat to perfect juicy tenderness (think: pulled pork or pot roast). But I have to say, I like using it to cook pulses the best.

Have you heard of the term “pulses” before? Pulses are the superfood group made up of beans, chickpeas, dry peas and lentils.

They are high in fiber and low in fat. They have tons of protein and nutrients. And my favorite part: they are CHEAP. Having a half cup of cooked pulses three times a week can be super beneficial for your health- you can sign up for the half-cup habit challenge here!

This Instant Pot chili recipe is a delicious, easy, and cheap way to get a hearty serving of pulses. I used dried kidney beans for this recipe, and they came out perfectly cooked. They held their shape and didn’t turn mushy, but weren’t too firm either. Here’s how I did it:

I soaked the beans before cooking them. There are recipes out there that instruct you to cook the dry beans immediately without soaking, but I always find that it’s hard to gauge cooking time and that the beans are a bit more difficult to digest without soaking them. It takes almost no hands-on time, just a little bit of planning. Sort through the beans to make sure there aren’t any rocks or debris, then cover with double the amount of water in a container or bowl, and leave to soak in your fridge overnight. Then, when you are ready to use them, drain and rinse well.

I finished salting/seasoning the chili after it was fully cooked. Adding too much salt to the cooking liquid of beans can affect their texture. There is a little bit of salt added to the veggies and ground beef in the beginning, but the rest is added after the chili is completely done.

There’s so much to love about this recipe.

First of all, it’s CHEAP. Dry beans are one of the least expensive, most nutritious foods you can buy, and because they make up the bulk of this chili, you’ll be able to spend more on high quality, lean ground beef, which makes the entire recipe healthy. I definitely recommend using lean beef for this recipe because you sauté it directly in the pot without draining the fat- the chili might be a bit too greasy otherwise.

Furthermore, this recipe makes a TON. One batch will feed 8-10 people- it’s extremely hearty and filling. And since it’s freezable, you can save some for an easy meal (or two) later.

Learn more about healthy pulses and how to make a habit of having a half-cup three times a week! Your waistline (and your wallet) will thank you.

Here’s the printable recipe for this Instant Pot Chili made with dry beans and ground beef. Finally, if you don’t have a pressure cooker, don’t fret- I included instructions for a slow cooker as well :-)

Instructions

Set Instant Pot to “sauté,” and cook the peppers, onions, and garlic in the canola oil and 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt for about 5 minutes, or until softened.

Add the chili powder, cumin, coriander, oregano, and cocoa powder. Stir and continue sautéing for about 30 seconds- just enough time for the spices to become slightly toasted.

Add the ground beef and continue cooking until browned.

Add the water, tomatoes, drained and rinsed beans. Stir. Turn “sauté” setting off, cover the Instant Pot and set the pressure to high for 15 minutes. At this point, the pressure cooker will take about 15 minutes to come to the correct pressure, then the timer for 15 minutes will start.

Allow the pressure to release naturally for 15-20 minutes. If it hasn’t released fully at this point, you can unseal the valve manually.

Season with plenty of kosher salt and black pepper to taste.

If the chili seems too thin, turn Instant Pot to “saute” setting and allow to simmer uncovered until it reaches desired consistency. Alternatively, you can use a potato masher to mash some of the chili/beans, which will help thicken it.

The chili is ready! Serve with sour cream, grated cheddar cheese, chopped green or red onions, hot sauce, or any other fixings you desire :-)

Notes

To make this recipe in the slow cooker: Sauté the peppers, onions, and garlic in a skillet as directed. Add the spices and beef as directed. Transfer to slow cooker and add the water, tomatoes, and drained/rinsed beans. Cook on high for 4 hours or low for 8 hours. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

I purposefully made this chili mild tasting since I was feeding it to my one-year-old daughter and wanted it to be family friendly. If you like tons of spice, feel free to add more chili powder, some cayenne pepper, or even a fresh hot pepper in with the other peppers!

Reader Interactions

Comments

This looks tasty. I was wondering if the cooking time would need to be adjusted if using pinto beans or great northern beans instead of kidney beans. We don’t care for the flavor of kidney beans. Thanks!

Oooo good question. Different beans do take different times to cook in a pressure cooker, and if you aren’t careful, you may end up with beans that are too mushy or too hard. This Instant Pot cooking times chart is super helpful. I increased the cooking time from this chart because I had other things in there, but it does look like pinto and great northern fall under the same time frame as kidney, so it shouldn’t change these recipe instructions. Hope that’s helpful!

I used pre-soaked dry kidney beans but after 15 minutes at high pressure and another 15 minutes for the NPR, the beans were not soft or creamy enough. I tried to put it back into the pressure mode, but it gave me a “burn” warning. Any suggestions? The beans were organic and hadn’t expired and I’m in a low altitude.

Hm. That’s never happened to me before, but after a bit of searching around on the internet, I *think* that there may not be enough liquid. You may want to try adding a cup more of water to it, in addition to the 2.5 cups recommended. Also, did you soak the beans for enough time? I soaked mine for 24 hours- if you did less time there is a possibility they needed more liquid. That’s the only thing I can think of… hope this helps!

If you’re nervous about it, you can definitely just stir the tomatoes in after cooking and let them heat up for a few minutes, since canned tomatoes don’t need any extra cooking! It didn’t affect the texture of the beans for me. Hope you like it!

I made this recipe but soaked the beans overnight and rinsed them and when doing the recipe I did everything then when I added the beans my instant pot built up the pressure then went right to burn and it wouldn’t do anything not sure what I did wrong, thought I didn’t have to cook the beans ahead of time. HELP

This is strange. You are the second person to comment that this happened. I’ve never gotten a burn warning on my IP, and I double checked the recipe to make sure I wrote it correctly. I’m going to definitely have to try to make this again so I can hopefully pinpoint the exact problem! In the mean time, I think adding more liquid will help. I’m going to change the 2.5 cups to 3.5 cups, with a recommendation for thickening it if it comes out too thin. Thanks for the heads up, and so sorry this happened to you!

Sooo good! Used a bottle of session ale in the liquid portion and a can of fire roasted rotel tomatoes as a portion of the tomatoes. First time I have ever started with dry kidney beans instead of canned and it was perfect. My new chili recipe from now on!

This chili was a real hit with the family! However, I did make some alterations to accommodate my 6-quart Instant Pot. I soaked 1/2 c. each of dried pinto, black and kidney beans for 24 hrs. This came out to approx. 6 c of beans and less than the 1 lb of dried the recipe called for. After adding the beans to the pot, I realized that there wasn’t enough room for the broth and canned tomatoes. So I pulled out about 2.5 cups of beans to make way for the broth, tomatoes and I added a can of tomato paste. I only added 2.5 cups of broth and it turned out to be just the right consistency and amount for my 6-quart Instant Pot. Garnished with fresh cilantro and grated feta cheese. Will definitely make this again, thanks for the delicious recipe, Elizabeth. As a footnote, I think the original recipe would be just great for an 8-qt size.

Thanks for the recipe, Elizabeth! Who doesn’t love a good pot of chili? Is the recipe listed in your post for an 8qt. pot? I am new to the IP and I have a 6 qt. Just wondering if I need to make accommodations based on Angelique’s comments above. Thanks so much!

Primary Sidebar

Welcome to Bowl of Delicious!

Hi, I'm Elizabeth! I create easy, real food recipes for busy people. I'm a former high school art teacher from New England, now full time food blogger near Austin, TX, where I live with my hubby and two baby girls, Zoey and Eleanor. Learn more!

Trending Recipes

Footer

Hello! I’m so glad you’re here.

Hi, I'm Elizabeth! I create easy, real food recipes for busy people. I'm a former HS art teacher, now full time food blogger. I live near Austin, TX with my hubby and two baby girls. learn more!

Affiliate Disclaimer:

Bowl of Delicious is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com for products I highly recommend (as well as other affiliate companies). If you purchase any item from Amazon by clicking to their site via the affiliate link, it will cost the same to you, but I will receive a small commission. Your purchase helps support Bowl of Delicious and is much appreciated! :-)